BOISE, Idaho — Health care workers are on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. Every day, medical personnel risk their lives to treat patients with coronavirus. Many healthcare workers are concerned about the possibility of carrying the virus home and exposing their family members.
Medical personnel in the Treasure Valley now have an extra resource in place to help combat that concern. On Friday, Boise State University announced it will open some of its on-campus housing to local healthcare workers who can't stay at home.
With only a handful of students still remaining on campus because of the pandemic, Boise State said it had space to offer those who need it.
The workers will be housed at University Square, which is made up of four different residence hall buildings.
The university is working with local health care systems and facilities to determine which workers need housing. It is also working with the same health systems to cover the cost to keep the building operational and clean for the workers.
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Greg Hahn, a spokesperson for Boise State, said they aren't sure yet how many workers will be living on campus.
“We’re trying to be flexible," he said. "We didn’t really go into it locking anybody into a specific number of rooms or anything like that. It’s just about trying to be there for the need while the need exists.”
The medical workers will be living alone and will not be sharing a bathroom or living space.
Students who are still on campus have been moved into apartment-style housing so they can be self-sufficient since things like university food services have shut down.
Because of that, Hahn said the workers and students will not be interacting. He also added that some rooms still have student belongings in them. Those rooms also will not be used to house medical workers.
“Some students left for spring break and everything changed and so they haven’t been back and so there are some rooms that still have stuff in it," he said. "We haven’t gone through it and moved everything out. So those places will be locked up and there won’t be any crossing of those two [things].”
Hahn said it's important to remember that most of the workers will not have symptoms of the virus and have not tested positive. The campus housing is simply a safe alternative for them.
“I have a friend who’s out of a trailer. His quarantine trailer he calls it," Hahn said. "He calls back from the hospital and goes back there while his family is in the house. Not everybody has that opportunity so this creates that for some people.”
Hahn said Boise State is happy to be able to help the community in any way possible during this time.
"The sacrifices are happening all over the world and every time you’re a piece of that it’s kind of gratifying," he said. "It’s nice to play a part.”
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